In one semester, I have learned to look at the world through the lens of race and ethnic relations. This class has completely changed the way I view what is happening around me. I am now aware of the events that occur right in front of me every day that might be in the favor of people of certain races.

One event that really stuck with me from this semester was when one student was upset that another student used the phrase “colored people” when referring to African Americans. The student that was upset was black, so this phrase brought her back to a time when segregation was legal and African Americans were horribly mistreated. Although the white female might have meant nothing offensive by using this term, it meant something completely different to the person whose racial group it referred to.

This instance gave me a lot to think about. How are we, as human beings, supposed to know what offends different people? It is a difficult topic. Some black people might not have been bothered at all by the wording of the white female’s phrase. This situation is similar to many others. Now, whenever I hear people using the n-word, I wonder whom this offends. Some African Americans might be horrified when they hear this curse, yet others might use the slander themselves in their everyday conversations.

This leads to much confusion between groups. Many people are afraid to say anything because they do not know whom they may offend. I often find myself uncomfortable using the term “black person” because, as a white person, we are told to always be as politically correct as possible. Because some black people might prefer the more proper phrase “African American”, it becomes rather confusing.

This confusion is what caused the argument between the black and white females. There was a lack of understanding between the two that this phrase was offensive to one of them. In the defense of the black woman, this term could definitely be seen as offensive for multiple reasons. However, in the defense of the white female, there are so many terms whose offensiveness is questionable to certain individuals. It is impossible to know who will be hurt by what statements.

Because of this class, I am noticing that there truly is no right or wrong way to refer to a person’s race. What it all comes down to is personal preference. There is almost no way to avoid offending someone, because of these discrepancies within races of preferred terms. This creates tension among groups and ultimately leads to division.

Sam has taught be to be more open about my views on race. I now feel more comfortable using whatever term seems right to refer to people of different racial groups. This class has given me the confidence to talk about race in an open, civilized, and enlightened manner.

I believe that interracial dating is controversial for a multitude of reasons. Some of these reasons are obvious while some are more subconscious. Either way, these reasons lead to people shutting off others from other racial backgrounds when it comes to dating and sexual relations.

One reason might be because of the views that have been passed down for generations. Although our generation is much more accepting of other races than those before us, many people still have underlying racist thoughts and feelings. People with these emotions may not be conscious of them. As a result, they might be inadvertently shutting out the prospect of dating someone of another race.

Another reason why a black person may not want to date a white person is simply because of his or her family values. A person with black parents might be afraid of what their parents would think if they were to bring home a white boyfriend or girlfriend. The same might go for a white person with regard to dating a black person. Even if someone was interested in dating someone of the opposite race, they might lose interest because of the risk of upsetting their parents. Because of this fear of disappointing their parents, they might not even consider dating someone of a different race than their own.

People may also be more comfortable dating someone of their own race because they feel that they have more in common. Even if a black man has a lot in common with a white woman, he might just assume that they come from two completely different backgrounds and not try to approach her. Humans are lazy creatures, and we often use our first impressions to make judgments instead of actually analyzing the situation. People often make judgments on others very quickly and with no second thoughts. Since skin color is the first thing that you see, it is usually the first way someone judges another person.

Many people are simply scared to date or have sex with a person of another race because they are afraid of the unknown and they are worried that their peers will judge them. People tend to care a lot about how others view them, even if they do not admit it. A black girl might be afraid to date a white boy because she does not want her friends to make fun of her. This factor has surely stopped more than a few relationships from occurring.

These reasons and more lead to men and women being afraid to date or have sex with someone who is not of the same race. Humans do not often assess their own decision making skills, and therefore they never realize that they could be missing out on the opportunity to meet some great people of different racial backgrounds.

Sam’s lecture on the Christian invaders was eye opening. I was unaware that a large part of the discomfort felt in the Middle East is related to the fact that these people believe that Americans are trying to convert them to Christianity. Children in the countries of the Middle East are exposed to a multitude of YouTube videos and news reports that make Americans look exceedingly bad. With all of the social media surrounding the Christian invaders, it is nearly impossible for people in the Middle East to ignore these fearful videos.

The video of the man working under Bush’s presidency who was talking about the superiority of the Christian religion must have been horrifying for Muslim men and women to see. This man obviously held some power in the United States. He even talked about how his God was better than their God. Muslims must believe that, with men like this in power, every citizen thinks that their God is superior to the Muslim God, or Allah. Videos like this do nothing more than make our relationships with those in the Middle East worse and worse.

If I were a young person in the Middle East, I would have an extremely distorted view of Americans. I would think that all Americans are Christian and have a mission to convert people of all other religions to Christianity. I do not blame these people for thinking this about my country. They are exposed to hundreds of videos showing a small minority of Americans who are extremists. The video concerning the church camp that was training Christian children to be” warriors” for their religion must have been especially troubling. Muslims seeing this video would probably think that all American children go to the camps and are training to annihilate all other religions of the world. I would think the same thing if I were in their shoes.

The jihad video shows the paranoia of many Americans. There are many people that associate the Muslim religion with terrorism. This association is obviously false for the most part. Most members of the Muslim religion are very similar to members of the Christian religion. When Middle Eastern families see videos such as this, they must think that all Americans are closed minded and determined to destroy those of the Muslim religion.

When Middle Eastern adults and children see these videos, they make the assumption that all Americans support these views. It is impossible to avoid such reactions from occurring. The small population of Christian extremists will never stop creating their propaganda and releasing it to every country. As sad as it is, there is no way to change the views of Middle Eastern people on Americans.

The fact that Sam brought up the topic of the views of Native Americans on immigration was very eye opening. Many Americans are quick to complain about how annoying it is that foreigners, such as Mexicans, immigrate illegally into the United States. Americans are quick to judge that these illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from legal citizens and taking advantage of rights that they do not have. A great number of Americans say cruel things about those of Mexican descent because some of their people are coming into the United States illegally. Americans fail to look at their ancestors' past actions when criticizing those of illegal immigrants.

Americans seem to neglect the fact that in the 1400’s, when Christopher Columbus was the first European to discover the United States, he was technically an illegal immigrant himself. Europeans came into America and stole the land away from its rightful owners, the Native Americans. They were insensitive and cruel towards the people that originally inhabited this country. Many of our own relatives were thieves and the equivalent of illegal immigrants. The Native Americans never gave Europeans permission to come into their country and take their land.

It is, therefore, greatly hypocritical that Americans harass Mexicans who illegally immigrate into the United States when most of their ancestors committed the same crimes and to an even harsher extent. The Mexicans are not ordering American citizens to leave the land that they own. The Mexicans are not trying to take over America for themselves. These are the harsh actions that Europeans once took on the Native Americans.

Although I believe that all people should come into the country legally, I understand that the people who come into America illegally are, for the most part, good, hard working individuals. For example, my uncle’s wife came into America illegally from Peru many years ago because of a war going on in her home country. If she had stayed home, her life would have been in danger. Once she got to America, she worked multiple jobs and quickly gained her citizenship. She did not try to swindle money from the government and she worked jobs that American citizens would not have wanted to do. My aunt never tried to run Americans out of their homes or steal their possessions.

It must be extremely frustrating for the Native Americans to watch everyday Americans react so strongly to illegal immigration. How can these people not see that their own ancestors were guilty of much harsher crimes? The Native Americans, to this day, have suffered as a result of the initial immigration of Europeans into this country. Citizens must look to the past for insight before so cruelly attacking the motives of illegal immigrants.

Our country’s government has put a large amount of weight on the issues involving rape and abortion over the past few years. Many top leaders believe that it is their right to make a decision for the general public because there are individuals that consider abortion to be “murder”. This topic, which should not have been a large issue in the first place, has been blown out of proportion.

I believe it is the right of every person to do what he or she wishes to do with his or her body. We are all free individuals and not a single government official should have the ability to impose their own beliefs on us. The topic of abortion should involve only the woman bearing the child and her partner.

Personally, I know that I would never be able to go through with an abortion. It is just not something that I could picture myself doing. However, I know that this opinion is mine and does not apply to every American woman. It does not bother me that other women might decide to have abortions because it does not affect my life. This is what many members of the government fail to realize. We have no right to decide how another person lives their lives.

An issue that commonly gets brought up is that many women who are raped and become pregnant wish to get abortions. While I do not know what decision I would make in this situation, I would never assume that my decision would be the same as that of other American women. Sam made a great point that in order to understand the reasoning behind a woman getting an abortion, you have to think about what your twelve your old sister or your mother would do if they were raped and became pregnant. Is it fair to make a twelve-year-old girl throw her life away to give birth to a child that she did not choose to be impregnated with? I know that if many of the men in the government had their own daughters put into this situation, they might finally know how to show some empathy.

What this argument truly boils down to is the fact that abortion should not even be an issue anymore. No one should have the right to make a decision like that for another person. Especially not a rich white man in the government who has never dealt with this type of situation in real life and does not have the ability to show empathy towards women in desperate situations. Our country should be worrying about more pertinent problems, such as the economy and the war, rather than focusing on what women do with their bodies.

When people have latent prejudices, they are subconsciously judging others off of preconceived notions. I am a firm believer that we have all been guilty of being prejudiced at one time or another, whether we meant to or not. It is impossible not to be, because we have all grown up with schemas of the world around us based off of the beliefs of those around us. For example, if I grew up in a town that was mostly made up of white citizens, I would be less likely to easily relate to a black individual. This relates to Sam’s example in lecture.

Sam talked about how, without meaning to, an interviewer might prefer a future employer that is similar in race to them. This interviewer would most likely not realize that he or she is making these judgments, meaning that these prejudices are latent. Latent prejudices are much stronger than many people realize. Sam pointed out that an interviewer might sit closer to the “optimal distance” with someone of his or her own race. This will put the future employee into a better light in the interviewers mind. Even though most people are unaware of these race-favoring actions, they can be extremely influential.

These judgments, although innocent for the most part, have serious implications in peoples’ futures. A possible example of this type of prejudice could be if I was interviewing for a job at a restaurant, per say. Even if I have great experience, a good personality, and quality interviewing skills, I will probably lose out to a black female if the interviewer is black as well. Being white, the conversation might not flow as easily because the interviewer will not be as comfortable around me as they would around someone of their own race. This kind of judgment is not done on purpose, but nevertheless it can have significant consequences.

It is well known that many CEO’s of large companies are white. Therefore, while interviewing for top positions in their company, they are likely to make the same judgments above, but for those who are not white. Without meaning to, they will hire more white employees than any other race. Even if more Hispanic individuals, for example, are qualified for positions than whites, the whites will win out if the interviewer is of the same race as them. As a result of latent prejudice, black and brown people will appear less prosperous when looking at the statistics.

Many might have their own ideas for why latent prejudices happen, but unconscious judgments might just be the largest cause. The implications of these conceptions are massive. However, it is nearly impossible to stop these ideas from occurring. Latent prejudice will always be a part of society.

It was very interesting to discuss the rights of Native Americans to the land that was once stolen from them. When many of us think about this topic, we are disgusted with the actions of our founding fathers. At least, I know that I am. How can we live comfortably every day knowing that we are living on stolen land? Even though I, myself, did not take this land away from the Native Americans who once lived here, should I feel guilty?

It is a difficult question, to say the least. I feel horrible that many Native Americans are now living in extreme poverty. They were, after all, the first people of this country. It truly is not their fault that they live in these conditions. As we learned from our guest speaker the other day in class, many businesses in the reservation areas will not hire Native Americans because they think they are thieves. Without jobs, there is no way that these people will be able to improve their lives.

Because of the wretched state many Native American people are now living in, it is hard not to feel guilty about living on the land that was once their property. These defenseless people were stripped of their rights and their property. It is because of our ancestors that these people are living in such terrible conditions.

However, generations after these events occurred, should my parents or I be responsible for giving back the land that we have honestly purchased? After all, we were not the ones who stole the land in the first place. It is a very difficult subject. On one hand, the Native Americans truly do deserve the property because they never agreed to sell it and it was wrongfully taken from them by force. On the other hand, my family and many other families never actually participated in the stealing of land from Native Americans. Why should my family be displaced because of the centuries old actions of ruthless tyrants?

I believe that my solution would be to let everyday citizens keep their land and compensate the Native Americans with a large amount of money. This could help them to rebuild their reservations and start businesses to attain revenue. Our country should be focusing on helping our own citizens – the people who first inhabited this country – instead of pouring our efforts into other countries’ problems. In addition, the government should send out forces to reservations to help build homes and get residents back on their feet.

The first people of the United States deserve better treatment. Our founding fathers robbed them of their rights and their property. Even if we do not give them back the land that was once theirs, they deserve the compensation that they had once been promised.

I believe that most of the events that occur in our lives are a mixture of both free will and determinism. We only have control over our lives to a certain extent. Besides that, we normally are not able to decide what happens to us. For example, the events that lead up to my attending Penn State were definitely a combination of free will and determinism. While I chose to work really hard in high school, there were certain pre-determined factors that enabled me to be more or less successful than other students.

Free will definitely had some part in my attending Penn State. I did not goof off much during high school. I worked hard so that I’d be able to get into a great school. I very easily could have chosen to focus more on partying or hanging out with my friends than doing my schoolwork. That positive choice enabled me to maintain a relatively high grade point average and to stay near the top of my class. I believe that these are some of the reasons why I was able to get into a school like Penn State.

However, many of the reasons why I am here right now are a direct result of factors outside of my choosing. For example, I was lucky enough to be born into a family where my parents could afford to send me to Penn State. Although I will one day be paying my parents back for my education, if they could not pay to send me to Penn State now, I would not be going here. Regardless of my earned grades, I would not be anywhere near smart enough to get a full-ride to a college like Penn State. Determinism decided that my parents would be able to pay for my Penn State education.

Determinism also affected the fact that I was more likely to get accepted to a college like Penn State and not into an Ivy League school. Many people who attend Ivy League schools come from legacies and money. Those are factors beyond their control. I cannot control the fact that my family is not fabulously wealthy or that I am not the child of an Ivy League student. While I love Penn State, I know that had I come from more money I would have had a greater chance of attending an Ivy League school.

While free will is important in deciding the results of one’s life, determinism plays a large role. Free will enabled me to attend Penn State because I chose to work hard in high school. However, determinism decided that I would be able to afford to attend a school like Penn State and that I would not come from a rich family that would send me to an Ivy League school. A mixture of free will and determinism has led me to where I am today.

When Sam asked the class to raise their hand if they were rich, it was shocking that not a single person raised their hand. I found it very interesting that out of all the questions that Sam had asked in throughout the semester so far, this was the one that rendered the classroom of seven hundred people silent. There are plenty of students at Penn State that are on the level of wealth that Sam was describing. He wanted to talk to a student that was not just well off, but truly rich; a student that had more money than most of us could dream of ever having.

One would think that the people with that kind of money would be eager to show it off. We’ve all seen the students driving around campus in their luxury brand sports cars and assume that they must be fabulously wealthy. However, it is very likely that students who are eager to show off their wealth are not truly as rich as they would like to be. The people that are authentically rich have nothing to prove.

Perhaps that is why no one in Sam’s class raised their hand. Sam made a good point that rich people in America never talk about being wealthy. If a person honestly has that much money, there is no need for them to tell anyone; people just know. One of my best friends has an uncle that is fabulously rich. Her cousins are used to staying in their vacation home on a cliff overlooking the ocean and attending lavish private boarding schools. However, I have never once heard her uncle speak about money. I also have a feeling that if he were asked how wealthy he was he would underemphasize his affluence a great deal. The point is that, for the most part, rich people do not talk about money in any casual setting.

In addition to this fact, I believe that we live in a culture where it is rude to talk about anyone’s financial status in conversation. For example, in America it is often considered improper to ask a person what their yearly salary is. Therefore, people have become trained to steer away from the topic altogether. Now, people feel uncomfortable talking about how much money they have, whether it be a lot or a little. For this reason, I’m sure many people would never admit to being wealthy in a classroom of seven hundred students or even in a smaller setting.

For whatever reason, wealth has become a touchy subject in our culture. It could be due to the fact that the rich just do not talk about wealth or it could come down to the fact that we do not feel comfortable comparing our own salaries to others. Either way, these were most likely the reasons why no one raised their hand in class.

I have to admit, when I first saw the picture of Balpreet Kaur, I was a bit shocked. I was not used to seeing a woman with that much facial hair and I did not understand why she was growing it out in this way. However, after hearing more and more of her story I began to realize that it is every man and woman’s decision what they do with their body. If she wants to grow out her body hair, no one on this Earth has the right to stop her or judge her for it. In addition, Kaur is growing out her hair because it is part of her religion to do so. She believes that our body is God’s gift and we must not alter it in any way. It is sickening to see how many people cannot comprehend Kaur’s views. While I would not grow my hair out the way Balpreet does, I understand her motives.

Many of the comments display a misunderstanding of the fact that Balpreet is doing this for herself. She explains that because she does not focus out her outer beauty, she is able to cultivate her inner beauty and convey that quality to the world. She is so confident in her own skin that she was able to comfortably address the posting of her picture on Reddit without so much as an upset remark. So, why is it that the readers of the New York Daily News responded so harshly to this story?

One comment that really stood out to me was written by a user called “AnneCregan006”. This user was replying to another comment by a male user claiming that he admired Balpreet. “AnneCregan006” angrily asked him if he would ever date a woman like Kaur, saying “what planet do you live on”. This user went on to ask what Kaur was trying to prove by growing her hair out.

What this user failed to realize is that Kaur could care less if a man brings her on a date. She is growing her hair out for herself. In fact, she is completely unfocused on what other people think. This comment perfectly exemplifies Sam’s ideas on this topic. American women do so many things just to make men happy. This user’s first remark is that Balpreet would never get a date. Americans are focused on how a woman’s actions will help her impress a man rather than the woman being happy with herself.

In this country we do many things to make other people happy. Why else would most American women shave their legs? We’re shaving so that we look presentable to other people. The comment section of this article in the New York Daily News proves this point.